Monday, May 21, 2007

My least favorite room


I'm not really complaining today, but I'm going to tell you about my least favorite room in my house. This is my kitchen. I'm almost embarrassed to show it to you it is such a nothing kitchen. It's only redeeming feature is that it has a nice window that you can look out of onto the forest, but even that is a frosted window so when it is closed you can not see out. I keep it open as much as possible from spring on.

I love the house we live in and it fits me to a T. All except for the kitchen, or maybe the kitchen fits me to a T too and that's why I don't like it. The interior decorating is... vintage stainless steel. The sink is the only built in feature in the whole kitchen. It has no oven, no stove, no cupboards, no dishwasher, no ice makers, no disposal, NO COUNTERS!!! I have to chop vegetables on that little space to the right of the sink and the dish drainer goes on the left. You can imagine what the kitchen looks like when cooking is in process. Pots and dishes in the sink, on the floor, balanced on top of each other. The stove is a two burner gas unit that we bought at a local hardware shop. The oven is an electric one I've had for nearly 30 years and the only place I could find for it is under the sink. It bakes 9 cookies at a time. Across from the sink is a sideboard for dishes and a place for a rice cooker and microwave.

A few years ago, an American friend and her sister were visiting and I complained about my kitchen. At the time the microwave was set in front of the stove and I was literally edging between the two in order to reach over the garbage pail to do the cooking. It's a good thing I've never been pregnant while living in this house or we wouldn't have had dinner for the final six months! I was teaching English the evening my friends were visiting, and suddenly I hear all this scraping and bumping coming from the kitchen! What were they doing but moving the whole kitchen around, refrigerator and all! I've always been more pleased with this layout than the previous one but still....

Many Japanese homes do have fancier kitchens and nowadays you can build a house with a "system kitchen" which means it has all the modern features and the kitchen will surround you with conveniences. I tell people that the reason I'm such a lousy cook and hate cooking is because I'm stuck with this kitchen but I doubt that I'd be a better cook if I had a fancy kitchen. It's a good excuse though!

7 comments:

marisa said...

there is always time in order to change things..also the kitchen!Ciao

atet said...

Wow -- someone with a smaller and less efficiently laid out kitchen than I have. Amazing. I thought I had the worst functioning (kind of) kitchen in the world, but I may have been wrong...

I keept telling people it's the kitchen's fault,not my own -- since dh does most of the cooking and seems to work just fine in there, somehow he doesn't believe me...hmnph.

anne bebbington said...

I sympathise so much Tanya - the house we rented in France for 6 months was exactly the same - the only fittings were a sink and the central heating boiler on the wall. We managed with a mish-mash of IKEA shelving, and old table inherited from DMIL's first house and some wheeled baskets with a work surface balanced precariously on top - heaven knows how anyone ver got fed!

QuiltingFitzy said...

I need an oven that only bakes 9 cookies, lol...oh, I know, I am NO help! I've had some horrible ones too.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

When living abroad I had a mere suggestion of a kitchen, I completely understand your dilemma. In fact, that kitchen had all the cabinet storage up HIGH... I am 5'1" (on a good day, with heels).. that was a challenge. I got my step-aerobics on a three-rung folding ladder. You do with what you have. I know there are many wonderful things that come out of this kitchen of yours! (I simply can't imagine rearranging someone ELSE's kitchen where I was a guest! I guess they thought they were helping.)

JudyL said...

You've just made me totally re-appreciate (is that a word?) my kitchen!

Connie said...

For a small compact kitchen yours looks very nice. But I agree that it would be more convenient to have additional food preparation areas. I've cooked in our travel trailer kitchens which were small but I managed. I don't know how well I would have performed on a daily basis though.